When Hitler invaded Poland on the 1st of September 1939, he swept across the country with a different kind of cavalry ― tanks. The whole world watched the dawn of an entirely different type of warfare. No longer were horsemen the lords of war in the flatlands of Eastern Europe. Instead, they became mere cannon fodder.
Warfare has had its many asymmetric moments in the past – some radical and others incremental. But what is interesting is that it has always triggered a race to symmetry irrespective of its impact or magnitude.
The Azerbaijani-Armenian war was one such asymmetric moment. This was reinforced by the Russian – Ukrainian conflict, where the asymmetric impact of drones was clearly demonstrated. New countries like Turkey and Iran emerged as strong technological challengers to the western and Israeli domination of military technologies with the cost-effective Bayraktar drones manufactured by the Turkish Defence company Baykar, or the Shahed Drones manufactured by Shahed Aviation Industries, Iran.
Earlier asymmetries like Tanks, Fighter Jets, Missiles, and nuclear arsenal triggered a race for expensive military-grade technologies. The current asymmetric race triggered by drones has turned the tables with the usage of COTS (Commercial Off-the-Shelf) products and components finding their way into military use at a scale never experienced before.
The Race from Asymmetry to Symmetry Led by COTS Drones
COTS as well as Drones specifically designed for military use, are reshaping battle lines on a daily basis, with use cases emerging by the day across the globe. The Military adoption of COTS Drones and components is growing at a faster pace than their dedicated military counterpart.
With the adoption of COTS Drones for Military purposes and leveraging economies of scale of mass manufacturing delivering hitherto never experienced cost advantages, Defence Drones are likely to bring about a major shift in the mindset of using specifically designed MIL Grade products across multiple defence applications.
On the flip side, COTS drones open up a whole new range of threat scenarios from a National and homeland security perspective that completely turn conventional Air Defence systems on their heads. The evolution of counter-drone technologies, and products and solutions both passive and Kinetic, are growing at an equally fast pace as the adoption of COTS Drones.
The earlier asymmetric races that required huge investments, years of dedicated R & D, and the manufacture of dedicated low volume costly MIL Grade components, to develop capabilities. However, this race is pretty much within the reach of a country like India thanks to the availability and commonality at the component level across multiple established industries like Mobile phones, Consumer Durables, Automobile Electronics, and Electric Vehicles, to name a few. The huge domestic market for these Industries will enable the country to leverage economies of scale, both for civilian and defence use cases, for a large part of the emerging drone applications.
Criticality of Development of Indian Drone Technology from a Geo-Political Perspective
Iran and Turkey have been able to develop game-changing capabilities in designing, developing and manufacturing battle-proven drone capabilities in a relatively short time using COTS components and subsystems despite the sanction regimen imposed on them. This proves that the development of indigenous capabilities is well within the reach of a tech-savvy country like India.
India’s Geo political defence scenario also necessitates indigenous development of technological capabilities given that the current asymmetricity is not in its favour with China having built advanced capabilities. Additionally, Pakistan’s alignment with Turkey and Iran having stronger ties with China than India are causes for concern.
Positive Initiatives by the Government of India for the Development of a Domestic Drone Industry:
• The realization and the need for building domestic capabilities in this critical future defence requirement that had been delayed by India’s protracted implementation of the civilian drone policy had set the Indian drone Industry back by at least half a decade, if not more. The present government is reversing this, with implementation happening at a feverish pace since July 2021.
• The highest office in the country is committed to building a strong drone ecosystem for the nation to evolve as a global drone hub by 2030. A string of initiatives like multiple Positive Lists for Indigenization by the Ministry of Defence, the complete ban on import of civilian drones, and a stringent Quality Type Certification process for the sale and use of civilian drones in India, have significantly levelled the playing field for Indian Manufacturers.
• The attractive Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme announced for both component and well as drone manufacturing, is another strong support provided by the government for the development and manufacture of drone-related technologies, products and solutions in India.
• The government of India’s recent semiconductor policy coupled with the commitment from the Ministry of Defence to buy 5,00,000 chips designed, developed and manufactured in India, is another positive push to start moving deeper into the electronic supply chain in terms of component-level manufacturing.
• The laudable decision to restrict DEF EXPO 2022 to only Indian Companies.
Advantage India
• India’s proven positive image globally as a reliable, cost-effective technology partner in Information Technology, especially with the success of the UPI payment system, works in its favour.
• The global negative image of Iran, Turkey and China – the other emerging powers in Drone Tech from an export perspective, adds to acceptance of Indian products.
• India’s huge domestic manufacturing capability and consumption of a range of electronic products across industries like Defence, Mobile phones, Automobiles, Electric Vehicles, consumer durables, and computers will be a huge cost advantage for Indian drone manufacturing.
• The fact that an estimated 8 lac DJI drones were imported into the country over the past 4-5 years despite being illegal including 1.5 – 2 lac of them making it into the Indian defence, is an indication of the huge domestic demand for drones in India.
ZUPPA NavGati being a fully indigenous Autopilot for unmanned systems based on its own MADE IN INDIA proprietary computing architecture of “SYSTEM OF DISSEMINATED PARALLEL CONTROL COMPUTING IN REAL TIME” is a Motherboard level advantage very few countries possess.
In conclusion, the National Vision of emerging as a Global Drone Hub is well on the way to realization by combining the various initiatives on the part of the government and the advantages mentioned above.
–The writer is Director of Zuppa Geo Navigation Technologies Pvt Ltd